💙 Turnabout by miixz

💙 Turnabout

by miixz (@miixz)

T, 32k, Wangxian

Part of the MXTX Epic Journeys Big Bang

Summary: Wei Wuxian stared openly at the man sitting across from him, unable to look away from the strange picture he made. He wore common clothes and had his hair up in a simple bun, his expression was contained, but soft as he looked at the baby held in his lap. Though nothing about the way he presented himself was outwardly remarkable, his mannerisms gave him a distinguished air. There was a gracefulness to him, the type that hid strength behind it. And he was beautiful. Even missing his usual mourning white and forehead ribbon there was no way Wei Wuxian would have mistaken him for anyone else. Still, the Lan Wangji with him right now might as well be a different person from the one he knew. He was still as stoic and silent as ever, but there was a warmth in him that he’d never seen before. Or: Wei Wuxian’s life takes a turn for the unexpected when he’s approached by Lan Wangji on his way back from a night hunt. Kay's comments: Definitely one of my favourite time travel stories, it's so well done and featuring some great fanart as well! A story in which after the Sunshot Campaign, Wei Wuxian gets sought out by Lan Wangji, only he's different and also, he has a child with him. Turns out that Lan Wangji is from the future and the child - their son, A-Yuan. Together, they set out to make sure the Wens and Wei Wuxian get to live and find their way together along the way. Loving the Yiling siblings vibes, Wangxian's relationship development and Wei Wuxian embracing his new role as a father immediately. Excerpt: Wei Wuxian made his way towards Lan Wangji in a daze, and for a moment he just looked at the little boy he was holding. He hadn't taken his eyes off him since they found him earlier. Though he'd looked at him countless times since their meeting, everything had shifted with this new knowledge in place. That was his son, that was a child who thought of him as a father. He ached with the need to take a better look at him, struggling to not impulsively take him out of Lan Wangji’s hands. “Can I hold him?” “Of course.” Lan Wangji came over to him and carefully arranged the baby in his arms. For a moment the cold scent of sandalwood enveloped him and then he was left with his son in his hold. He'd never been a person who paid much attention to babies before, but the moment he turned in his arms, little fist latching onto his shirt, Wei Wuxian was convinced that this was the cutest one he'd ever seen. Lan Yuan snuggled into his chest much like he did Lan Wangji's earlier, letting out a sigh of contentment. It was a wonder for Wei Wuxian to see such an action reflected back at him, and as though that wasn't enough, the little boy whispered, so softly he almost didn't hear it, "Die…" Any doubts he had about Lan Wangji's story were gone at that moment. He knew it was possible that he wasn't the one A-Yuan was calling for, but even so, something deep within his bones felt that acknowledgement. This was it. Wei Wuxian had a son. "He's adorable, Lan Zhan, the best baby in the world. I just know it."

pov wei wuxian, canon divergence, post-sunshot campaign, time travel fix-it, time travelling lan wangji, time travelling lan sizhui, somebody lives/not everybody dies, fix-it, wei wuxian lives, wen remnants live, burial mounds ensemble as family, good parents lan wangji and wei wuxian, child lan sizhui, older lan wangji, misunderstandings, getting together, developing relationship, love confessions, wei wuxian leaves the yunmeng jiang sect, not jiang cheng friendly, good sibling jiang yanli

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Honestly, I can't stress enough how important the theme of family is in mdzs. IMO it is the main theme of the book. Of course romance and devotion is important, but there's something so special about the way families are portrayed in mdzs and how important they are. (I watched donghua and read some of manhua btw)

Let's start with sibling relationships:

The whole plot started because of love for a brother and rage for how unjust his death was. The whole Cloud Recesses arc is an amazing set up for Wangxian etc, but it also shows the complicated yet sweet relationship between WWX and JC. How they both care so much about each other, how they tease each other. IMO JC did see WWX as a brother and loved him as such. Every time he scolds Wei Ying, it's always about Wei Ying's safety. Usually it's not "How dare you use demonic cultivation, you're gonna get our clan in danger", it's " If you keep it up, I won't be able to protect you". Even during the Wen invasion, the they're still together, they sacrifice themselves to save another. And don't get me started about Jiang Yanli, she loves her brothers very much. Despite Madam Yu creating a competition between the boys or Jiang Fengmian's lack of action and even enablement of WWX' dangerous and irresponsible behavior, they still love each other. I can ramble about yunmeng trio so much, but in short despite everything they went through, they cared for each other deeply. After Jiang Yanli's death everything changes, because imo the boys fully internalized Madam Yu's last words. WWX bring pain and destruction to Yunmeng. I think I need to stop, or we'll be here all day.

Or, another example: Nie bros. Nie Mingjue had to basically raise A-sang. They do deeply care about each other, and despite everything they'll be here for each other. Yet the desire to protect NHS from sad reality of golden core and qi deviation, their relationship soured a little. But it's obvious even for an outsider like WWX, that NMJ loves his brother. He pressures NHS, because he feels that he's starting to lose it. He wants to prepare his little bro to be a decent leader and to live without him. And NHS literally makes it his life mission to avenge his Dage even if it means having a blood on his hands.

Lan brothers show a good brother relationship. Lan Xichen supports LWJ in everything he does. Even his love for WWX. He gets protective, when he thinks WWX is laughing at LWJ's feelings. Lan Zhan is deeply saddened when his brother is missing and helps him discover the truth about his best friend's death. They're almost perfect siblings. (Plus they're super funny when drunk).

MXTX deserves an award for writing so many different sibling dynamics. And that's not all, she also portrays this different parental relationship so interesting.

Like, the nephews you didn't want, but care so much about, that you don't want them to suffer like their father did (Lan Qiren and this family drama); the kid of your husband's unrequited love, whom he seemingly loves more than your own children (Yunmeng Jiang happy house), JGS and the myriad of the kids he has ect. I love this variety so much.

I just love so much how MDZS has so much themes. Every time I think about MDZS, I find more and more interesting points and moments that change my perception of the characters. Every character is so humain and has their own motivation, that I can't truly hate some of them (apart from Wen Chao, his mistress and JGS, they suck).

TLDR: MXTX is a queen of writing complex human characters.

Laid bare

Vampire Wei Wuxian & (Ex)Vampire hunter Lan Wangji

Handy infographics for wangxian feat. whoever you want to put in there. Rubbing my polyamorous hands all over them.

I THINK this must be the three most common ones. Who else do people put in there?

I am not a photoshop professional. This is obvious. However I must spread my agendas.

”lwj wore mourning white for 13 years ” babe shut up shut up he’d have worn it regardless it’s literally his sect color those are literally just his robes

that art trend where cql wangxian and novel wangxian meet and cql wangxian are like shocked that they're married and shamelessly in love or whatever is so funny to me. local media fan does not understand the concepts of censorship or subtext

Doing a poll for science

Which of these characters do you find the more attractive (looks/personality/both/either)

1

Xie Lian vs Hua Cheng

2

Wei Wuxian vs Lan Wangji

3

Zhou Zishu vs Wen Kexing

i think i lost a couple followers for being annoying about wangxian. that's so rude. come back here and vote for wangxian in the ao3 ships poll right now

brat: tamed

Wangxian autism adhd couple

literally could talk about how happy it makes me the way yhat wangxian are friends before they are lovers. like. the way they interact during the post-ressurection with their easy conversations and back-and-forth teasing and just enjoying BEING with each other. and how that's what should have been in their first lives if they were allowed!!! they just fit together so well as people!!!! UGH!!!!!!

whenever i see Louis the thing i feel most in my heart is “My brother in Christ....”

but whenever i see Lestat i want to munch crunch chronch until he is a fine and delicate powder

jiang cheng ships by whether they're about wei wuxian or not

our boy wwx's protagonist halo is more like a gravitational field in his effect on jc's emotional development. he probably didn't, like, invent jiang cheng's abandonment issues, but he certainly made them worse! so here are jiang cheng ships grouped by whether or not they're actually about wei wuxian. the ones in the middle could go either way.

definitely about wei wuxian:

chengxian: obvious. wei wuxian is literally there.

zhancheng: obvious. they're both obsessed with wei wuxian.

ningcheng: obvious. they're both wei wuxian's horrible/beloved science experiments/little brothers and neither of them are normal about it. to be fair, wei wuxian is also not normal about it, thus the science experiments.

definitely not about wei wuxian:

mingcheng: I think this is more about theoretical temperamental compatibility and letting jiang cheng date a hot male authority figure who at least kind of approves of him.

sangcheng: I think this is in some ways often about giving jiang cheng a human who is *not* obsessed with wei wuxian. like, give jiang cheng his own bf who can be into him on his own merits.

chengyao: they're coworkers! they're inadvertent coparents! they're both wildly competent and also incredibly bitchy if the situation calls for it! if anything this is about jin ling instead.

chengyi: I don't know what this is about other than getting jiang cheng a boytoy. I don't rightly know that he would want one of those but why not! get down with your bad selves!

could go either way, Schrödinger's wei wuxian:

chengqing: this one I wasn't sure about because actually a lot of writers are pretty careful to make chengqing actually about them but wei wuxian got up in there with great determination and made that threesome happen (wen qing's hands, wei wuxian and jiang cheng's holes... surgical holes... I regret this already). hard to totally extract him from the dynamic after that. the wei wuxian must be contended with. depends on when in the timeline it happens and what canon you're working from, since cql made it canon pre-surgery.

xicheng: this is less likely to explicitly be about wei wuxian and more likely to be structurally about wei wuxian. not only does it make them match (twin prides dating the twin jades) but the brothers-dating-brothers situation ties them tightly to wangxian from multiple directions. in other words, if it's about wei wuxian it's because it sort of re-joins them as family through a different method. if he's not your "real" brother, becoming an in-law is fine?

disclaimer: I acknowledge it is possible to, for example, write a zhancheng fic which is not about wei wuxian, I'm not saying you can't! through the power of AU all things are possible, etc. but you have to actively remove him from the dynamic, because canon embeds him there very deeply, vs. something like chengyao, where they have a totally separate relationship (via jin ling- and their working relationship).

hold on does lan wangji tell wei wuxian "you promised that you would let me help you" literally on the cliff that he dies on later

For a while, I kept periodically thinking about F/M Wangxian (Male Wei Wuxian and Female Lan Wangji) without being able to figure out why I kept being distracted by F/M Wangxian. I mean, I think different genderbending AU situations are fun to think about in fanfiction, especially in worlds where gender roles are a problem. M/M, F/M, M/F, and F/F Wangxian all change the story slightly and I think it's neat to explore why and how.

And obviously, F!LWJ would be a total babe, that's nice to think about, but why still M!WWX and not F!WWX? F!WWX would also be a total babe, though of a different type, especially as the Yiling Patriarch. But my brain kept insisting that M!WWX was still crucial somehow and I couldn't figure out why that setup.

I mean, it is funny to think about how M!WWX's unchanged flirty behavior in their teenage years would suddenly set off every single alarm bell in the Cloud Recesses due to people being able to SEE IT thanks to heteronormativity goggles. WWX with a degree of societal permission to be romantically interested in Lan Wangji? Intolerable levels of annoying. Unbearable to witness. Singing love songs under her balcony type bullshit like he wants her to start another fight under the moonlight. He's writing her poetry (clever "joke" poems bordering on innuendo and actual romantic poems) and has the gall to be good at it. Lan Qiren is barely resisting the urge to beat WWX off with a broomstick. Lan Xichen doesn't know whether to be horrified or delighted (LWJ is bluuuuushing).

I do also like the idea of WWX coming back from the dead and finding out that the common people have decided in the past decade (thanks to the heteronormativity goggles) that the noble female cultivator LWJ had a Tragic Romance with the Evil Yiling Patriarch. Poor woman! WWX: "Who had a what now?" (I do also like the idea of Wangxian actually having a Tragic Romance during and after the war. And mutually stated romantic interest and affection still didn't fix anything for them. But it's funny to think about WWX getting completely blindsided by this EPIC LOVE STORY if there was no actual relationship.)

(Sizhui is still adopted here! Noble and pure-hearted LWJ adopted a war orphan because she longed to be a mother but swore never to love again after the Yiling Patriarch broke her heart, obviously! WWX, listening to this gossip: "She what? I mean, Lan Zhan would make an amazing mom, good for her, lucky kid, and no one is good enough for her if she doesn't want to get married, but seriously, I cannot stress this enough, what the fuck. She didn't like me back! Aiyah, I bet she's still so mad at me for ruining her reputation like this.")

Eventually, I realized that the key piece of this AU that I was missing was that I wanted to write F/M Wangxian that turned into F/F Wangxian. Because I think Transfem Wei Wuxian would display (and I mean this affectionately) the most ridiculous trans egg behavior imaginable, especially because it would lean more towards one of those "I was mostly fine living as a guy, but I'm so much happier as a girl" situations. Absurd amounts of queer foreshadowing.

So, Wei Wuxian gets resurrected into a female MXY's body or something and obliviously goes, "Oh! This is nice! I've always wanted to try being a woman! Yes, I can roll with this." And eventually Wei Wuxian has to actually examine the fact that she really likes being a woman and doesn't want to "go back" to being a man in any way, but not before putting Lan Wangji through an incredible amount of new "joke" flirtation. And people who knew WWX before are like... "Hmm. Some things are making sense now."

Things like: 1) As a teenager, WWX insisted that LWJ was such a strong woman that, if they got married, LWJ could be "the husband" and "he" would happily be "the wife". There were lots and lots of "I want to live as Jiejie's spoiled wife" jokes. Consequently, at the Cloud Recesses, at least one outrageously inappropriate joke was made by WWX about LWJ knocking "him" up, because WWX's breeding kink is still very much a thing. WWX didn't know about her breeding kink when she made that joke; both she and LWJ learned something about themselves that day.

2) Wei Wuxian would frequently pull crossdressing-related pranks saying: "Wow, this is crazy. I can't believe you guys are forcing me to put on a dress and all this makeup for this prank! You guys are wild!" And Jiang Cheng would reply: "No one is forcing you to do this. No one dared you. You suddenly volunteered to crossdress for a prank that does not require crossdressing AGAIN. Also, give me that brush, I'll do your makeup because you suck ass at it."

3) WWX would frequently go on rants about how women are so much more beautiful than men, which flew under the radar as a "normal behavior for a lustful young man", but there was always something a little off about it. Like, WWX might say that women are so beautiful and perfect that everyone would choose to be one if allowed to pick before being born just to admire the gorgeous view, and JC might say, "I don't think that's quite right...?" But WWX would just say something like (like an obnoxious teenage sibling), "That's because you know that you'd make an ugly woman!" or, "Are you saying that women aren't perfect? Also, are you saying Shijie isn't the best person in the world?" And JC would have to be like, "I didn't say that! And I'd make a beautiful woman, fuck you! Also, how is that relevant to your point?"

By the end of this AU, there is at least one public love confession that is horribly embarrassing for everyone else to witness, in which Wei Wuxian has finally realized that LWJ used to be in love with "him" and that she loves LWJ back, but tearfully apologizes because she can't be the handsome man that LWJ loved anymore. Even if she could be a man again, she still doesn't want to stop being a woman, even if she's not very good at it yet. She can't perform the required husbandly duties like provide a good home for LWJ! She can't father LWJ's children anymore!

(Jiang Cheng: "Do you have to do this now?! Stop being indecent! There are children here. Also, we're all being held hostage.")

But it's all cool! Because shortly after realizing WWX was back and determined to live as a woman, LWJ speedran a sexuality crisis, flipped a mental switch, and essentially went, "I'm a lesbian now." (Or maybe LWJ was really confused about being attracted to WWX when they first met, because LWJ had only been physically attracted to her fellow female disciples up until then, so WWX seemed like the "exception", until WWX comes back from the dead as a woman and then it's like, "Ah. Not an exception after all.")